BY TINA BENITEZ-EVES | Neighbors of The Standard East Village are worried about increased noise following the hotel’s proposal to add hours for its outdoor seating areas.
The Standard East Village hopes to increase service and extend closing times for its E. Fifth St. garden area, as well as the outdoor seating at the hotel’s Narcissa restaurant. Residents fear the changes would disrupt the neighborhood, including an assisted-living facility directly across the street from the hotel garden.
On March 23, E. Fifth St. Block Association members met with hotel officials to review the plans. The Standard said it wanted to keep the garden — located directly across the street from JASA’s Evelyn and Louise Green Residence — open two hours later, until 11 p.m. Additionally, the hotel wants to add another hour to its Narcissa garden’s weekday and weekend closing times, currently 10 p.m. and 11 p.m., respectively.
In addition, neighbors charge that The Standard never followed through with its original plan from May 2012, when owner André Balazs Properties signed an agreement that would keep noise levels down for neighbors by shifting its bar service from its second-floor patio downstairs to its Café Standard. Under its original stipulation, The Standard promised that sound from the outdoor seating — with no music — on the Bowery would not carry to surrounding neighbors, according to an acoustic study.
That agreement called for the lobby to be expanded and, in turn, for 60 percent of the garden to be enclosed. However, none of the garden was ever enclosed.
“They made a promise they could not keep,” said Stuart Zamsky, a member of the E. Fifth St. Block Association.
Zamsky said the hotel insists it attracts a different crowd from other neighboring establishments, and that extending the hours should not impact nearby tenants. Yet, most neighbors do feel that the Café Standard on the Bowery is loud, according to Zamsky, and that increasing the two open spaces’ hours would just worsen the noise.
Block association members note that 2 Cooper Square residents also are already dealing with noise from B Bar at 40 E. Fourth St. and are anxious about the completion of the Village Plaza outdoor public seating area and park, which has been under construction since 2013.
“The Café, when it’s open, is shockingly loud,” said Zamsky. “We want to avoid the same thing in the garden. The Standard is creeping toward table service in the garden, in the exact area that they promised to close.
“The hotel comes to us every year asking for things,” he said. “They primarily abide by the stipulations and try to be good neighbors. They’re not difficult, but they’re always asking for more.”
Representatives for The Standard are expected to present the hotel’s proposal at the May meeting of the Community Board 3 State Liquor Authority & Department of Consumer Affairs Licensing Committee.
“The Standard holds the East Village community in the highest regard, and as such, we are unable to comment on our current decisions,” said Moya Hewitt, a hotel spokesperson.
“We are just people trying to live,” Zamsky said. “We don’t want to tell them how to run their business. We just don’t want another Bowery Bar.”
